By Okechukwu Nwanguma
Today, May 30, 2025, marks 58 years since Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, then Military Governor of the Eastern Region, declared the birth of the Republic of Biafra.
That declaration on May 30, 1967, arose from the desire of a people to survive in the face of targeted violence and displacement. Following a series of pogroms in Northern Nigeria that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Eastern Nigerians, predominantly Ndị Ìgbò, and the failure of the Nigerian state to uphold the Aburi Accord, a peace agreement reached in Ghana, Ojukwu took a bold and irreversible step.
In his speech, he proclaimed:
“Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name, that Eastern Nigeria be a sovereign and independent Republic, now therefore, I, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu… do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of the Republic of Biafra.”
That declaration ignited a brutal civil war that lasted from 1967 to 1970, three years that left over three million civilians dead, mostly from starvation and disease.
For us at the Centre for Memories, these are not just numbers. These were fathers, mothers, children, teachers, artists, traders — lives cut short by a conflict that exposed the structural fault lines in Nigeria’s post-independence journey.
Yet, Biafra was not just about suffering. It became a beacon of resilience, innovation, and dignity. In the face of overwhelming odds, our people engineered solutions—producing local refineries, the Biafran pound, rockets, and indigenous technologies that spoke to the ingenuity of a people determined to live. Ojukwu called it “the indomitable will of a people who have resolved to survive.” Today, we still carry that spirit.
In remembering May 30, 1967, we are calling for truth, healing, and justice. We are remembering the cost of exclusion and the tragedy of silencing a people’s voice. We are reaffirming the necessity of dialogue, equity, and structural reform.
We celebrate and honour the memories of the many gallant men and women who played various roles before, during, and after the Nigeria-Biafra War.
As custodians of our collective history, the Centre for Memories – Ncheta Ndigbo stands firmly in the belief that memory is not just about the past. It is a guide for the present and a compass for the future.
#WeRemember
#BiafraMemorial
#CentreForMemories
Maka Unyaa, Taa na Echi.
Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma is a human rights activist and Executive Director, RULAAC.
